Quebec Students blockade Banks

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Students in Quebec are continuing their fight against fee rises by blockading banks

In Montral yesterday, students blockaded banks in their struggle against fee rises which will see 7,000 students forced to leave higher education, Moreover a disproportionate number of these will be from ethnic minorities and other disadvantaged groups.

The students are engaged in a general strike which has been ongoing for two months. The general strike tactic has been used 7 times over the last few years by students in Quebec, with some success in the past due to its economic effects when semesters have to be cut.

On 22nd March, 250,000 students demonstrated in Montreal - since then they have engaged in actions such as blockading the port, blocking bridges and sending flying pickets to colleges where there is a threat of them re-opening. The bank blockades yesterday were met with violent opposition - with one student having his leg broken by police.

At the conference of the Initiative for Democratic Education in the Americas (IDEA) yesterday, students from Quebec, Chile and Puerto Rico described their struggles against the privatisation of education and massive increases in student fees.Representatives of teachers from countries all across the Americas were inspired by the desciptions of the students' struggle, who are often supported by their teachers - since the fight is a common one - for a democratic and fully funded education service.